Nobody Knows
by Incredibly Close
Summary: This is the story of a Nobody just trying to get along. No general direction right now, but that may change.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, I totally don't know where I want to go with this. If anyone has any ideas just send me an e-mail, or leave me a comment. Also, I apologize for the formatting. Thiscomputer is kinda weird. 

Nobody Knows.

_ Being a Nobody isn't easy_, the young woman wrote. _It's hard knowing that even though you feel things just like you did when you were whole, that those feelings aren't real. No matter how lonely I feel, or how empty I know I am, those feelings aren't real. They're jus wraiths of what I once felt._

The woman paused, and scratched her chin. She tapped the pen on the side of the desk, pulling her thoughts in order before continuing. _I know I'm only twenty, or I was when my heart was stolen, but I feel like I've lived an eternity. How my longer will I go on like this? Living but not actually alive? Felling without a heart? What became of my heart? What sort of grotesque form did it take? I was only on my way to the market. Why me? Why my heart? I was nothing special--or at least my whole from wasn't. I cannot take this empty existence any longer. I am going to put an end to this. An end that should have come when my heart was stolen. Whoever reads this, finds this, I'm sorry. Sorry to put you through trouble for a Nobody. Ha, I sound like an angsty teenager. I guess I'm sorry for that too. I'm sorry for a lot of things. What will happen when I die? Will I fade into nothing? Into absolute nothing? Or will I be thrown into a purgatory to await my hearts end? Or, worse yet, has the real me, the whole me, been dead and gone all this time, and I'm nothing? Nothing becomes nothing? It's the none existing that scares me the most, the thought of absolute darkness. The darkness that's terribly like sleep without dreams. But_ _whatever awaits me, it must be better than this.  
Regards,  
Kione_

She carefully folded the letter, just as she had so many times before, and tucked it under her inkwell. The well was empty, had been for a while now, she kept it out of habit. Why does everything always have to be so difficult? She put her face in her hands and sighed. She never cried anymore, she wanted to, but just couldn't. Nobodies couldn't cry. It was cruel that everyone else could express grief, but she couldn't. She looked at the folded paper through the crakes between her fingers, and considered the letter carefully. Kione had written this type of letter at least a dozen times before, but each time she'd left the room swearing to end it all, she'd always come back about an hour later.

"This time I'll do it," she swore. "I've got nothing to lose. Nothing to lose, heh, that's an understatement"

Maybe it was. Kione didn't have a job, when she became a nobody she'd retained her human form. Not as she had been, not exactly, but no one from her old life recognized her. She stayed in Twilight Town for a while, watching over her loved ones until they moved on. That was an awful existence. Kione found that whenever she was around people from her old life--her whole life--she tended to make them upset. They'd get irrational around her, and sometimes violent. So she slunk in the shadows, watched her own funeral, watched her will reading, watched her family, her friends, move on, and forget her.

She eventually moved on too. Kione made her new home in an abandoned upper floors of the train station. The place hadn't been home to people in a long. It needed cleaning up, a lot of cleaning up, but she had all the time in the world. All the time in the world was becoming a daunting thing. It just sort of hung there, ever present. When she was whole, she thought life was too short, but now it was becoming apparent that life was much too long.

Part of her was grateful she still looked human, the other part wished she looked like a monster. As a human she'd been slightly tan, now she'd taken on a dark olive complexion, and she had an odd symbol just under her left eye. It looked vaguely like an upside-down skeleton keyhole. Kione's hair had been in braids when her heart was stolen, now it was in thick dreadlocks that hung almost all the way down to her waist. Where her hair had been a light blond color, it was now pure white. The only thing that remained exactly as they had been, where her bright, green eyes. For that she was thankful.

Certain parts of her Whole life were blurry. At first she remembered everything, but now her memories were fading. It was a slow process, but it was still happening. She'd stolen (did it count as stealing?) a photo album, but each time she'd look through it she'd have to remind herself who each person was.

Kione walked to the box next to the old mattress she slept on. She picked up the album and leafed through it. There was one photo she wanted with her. It was a picture of her family. They were at a reunion a year before her heart had been stolen. There were four smiling people, and she was holding a baby. There was a man beside her, he looked a little older than she was. Kione wrote on the back, two words: MY FAMILY.  
She tucked the picture into her pocket and took a deep breath before slowly letting it out. It's time, she decided, this time for sure. Kione got up and walked towards the giant clock.

The room she'd salvage happened to be just behind the clock. As a result she got one giant window. There was a small door near the 6 that lead to a ledge outside. Normally Kione just sat out there--out of sight of course, she didn't want to be caught as a squatter. But, today Kione stood on the ledge and looked into the sunset. The golden rays stretched on forever. Forever, was a very long time, even for a Nobody. There was a star just to the left of the sun above Twilight Town. An ever shining star. Or was it a planet? Kione kept her gaze fixed on it.

"This one's for you," she murmured to the star. Kione stretched out her arms and took one step forward into the void.

"For me? Why, I'm touched," came a voice behind her.

Kione was so surprised by the voice that she jumped off the side. Suddenly the thought of endless nothing became terrifying. Kione scrambled to catch an hand hold on the ledge. The stone felt cool to her touch, she clung to it desperately and hauled herself up.

"What were you trying to do, kill me?" She demanded as she slid over the ledge and fell to the floor.

The man smirked down at her. He was wearing an odd black cloak that covered half of his face, but she could see the smirk. "No, my dear, I believe you were going to do that all on your own."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a peace of paper. Through the steadily waning light Kione could see through the back of the paper. She saw her signature.

"Hey!" she snarled and sat up. "That's mine."

The man didn't pause in his response, "Oh, I know. Let's read a bit, shall we? Ahem. _I cannot take this empty existence any longer_," the man read in a high pitched nasally voice. "_I am going to put an end to this. An end that should have come when my heart was stolen_. Oh _spare _me! This is pathetic. If you are really going to end your life, please do it more eloquently. "

Kione was getting angry, very angry. How dare this man come in out of nowhere and criticize her suicide note. Why did the world keep getting in the way of her death? "Listen you," she growled, "I don't recall asking your opinion! I haven't had a lot of practice in suicide notes, so if you don't mind just go away and let me kill myself."

The man crumpled the letter and tossed it over his shoulder. "Oh, I believe you have a lot of experience writing these little notes. We've been watching you for a while now, Kione. Don't look so shocked. You think you could just go on pretending to exist without someone noticing?" He crossed his arms over his chest, as if daring her to say something. "Don't you ever wonder why you kept on going even though you didn't have a heart."

"Well, yes I--"

"It's because you were strong, Kione, strong were others were weak. It's a blessing, not a curse. You're stronger because of it! Not like those fools of the Kingdom would have you believe."

Kione didn't know what to say. A million questions were running through her head. But the one that kept come up was: "Who are you?"

"Ha," the man barked, "Someone who will make a great alley, or a terrible enemy. It's your choice. I'll give you sometime to think about it" The man stepped beside her, and then jumped off the ledge.

"WAIT!" Kione yelled after him, "When will I see you again?"

So, Kione was left. All she had left was a crumpled suicide notes, andthe nagging question: What now?


	2. Chapter 2

Nobody Knows.

Kione sat at her desk, or was rather slumped at her desk. Well, it wasn't actually a desk, it was a few crates and a piece of painted plywood. But she was slumped at it none-the-less, slumped and thinking. _What should I do now?_ The crumpled note was sitting in the corner of her room. It was mocking her again. She got up and picked up the note, and unfolded it.

_I'll be back for you soon--XIII_

Kione started at the paper, it hadn't said that an hour ago. No when the man had been holding it. What did all this mean? She crumpled the already wrinkled paper, walked outside to the ledge, and hurled it as far away from her as she could. It was night now, Kione could see the star was brighter now. She wasn't sure why she always found it. It wasn't brighter, or bigger that any of the other starts. But it was the only one that shone during the twilight. She looked at the star for the second time that day. Reaching into her jacket pocket she pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She hadn't smoked when she was a whole person, but somehow the smoke filled the void within her. Kione knew she shouldn't smoke, but she wasn't all that sure she could even contract cancer anymore.

Her lighter flicked once, twice in the darkness before lighting. The small flame licked at the night, and lit her cigarette. It had gotten colder, winter was coming fast to Twilight Town.

"These are the last lonely days," she mused., her cigarette bobbing up and down in her mouth.

Then, just as before, a voice came from behind her. "Why?"

Kione screwed her eyes shut, and grimaced. _Not again_, she thought. "Look, I'm not going to jump, okay? You win," she turned around to face the voice, only to discover that there was no one there.

"Why would you jump?" The voice came from behind her again, this time on the ledge. Kione turned and saw the figure sitting on the stone, facing away from her. The figure was small, and had two huge, round ears. They reminded her of dinner plates. He was wearing a cloak almost exactly the same as the man who came before him.

Rather than ask who the man was, she decided to accept her fate. They all come here, she realized, every single one of these crazies. Kione sat down beside the man, and took another puff of her cigarette. The smoke blew out before her like a cloud. The man coughed.

"Sorry," she said fanning the smoke away from him. "Does it bother you?"

"A little," he admitted.

Kione to one last drag and flicked the cigarette into the void, she watched the small ember disappear.

"Thank you, but you shouldn't litter."

She smile ruefully, and exhaled the last of the smoke, "Yeah, and I shouldn't smoke either."

They sat in silence for a moment, the two strangers. Or at least, Kione assumed the man didn't know her. The dimutive form beside her had oddly perfect posture. She might not have boticed it if she hadn't been slouching. Slouching was another bad habit she'd picked up while living in the train station.

"You didn't answer my question," he said suddenly.

"Hmm?" Kione murmured. She'd been thinking about the bad habits she'd been picking up lately. Kione realized that she used to be an all around better person--when she'd been a whole person.

"Why would you jump?"

"Because I can't fly," she snorted.

The man considered this, "But then you'd die, wouldn't you?"

"That was my intention," Kione snapped sarcastically. Sarcasm was another bad habit she hadn't has before. She decided to change the subject. "So, did that guy send you to get me?"

The man turned to look at her, and she saw for the first time that he wasn't actually a man per say. He was actually a mouse. That explained his voice. "Huh?"

"You know, the guy that was here earlier? You two are wearing the exact same thing. What's thirteen about? Is it some secret club? Because I gotta tell ya, I'm not wearing a cloak."

The mouse's expression darkened. Kione was suddenly, unexplainably afraid. There was a sort of energy that resonated from him. It was odd, and if she had to put any sort of name to it she'd call it warm. The kind of glow that surrounded the people you always wanted to be around. Like a person who always drew crowds at parties. But if something could be great, it could also be terrible. Where there was light, then was shadow. Where there was good, there had to be evil.

"What do you know about the Organization?" His voice was cool and even, but it had an edge to it.

Kione was at a loss. _Me and my big mouth_. "Nothing, that's just what the letter said: '_I'll be back for you soon--XIII_'."

The mouse stood up, and even though Kione was still sitting, he was only a few inches taller than her. There was a skeptical look in the mouse's eyes. Kione couldn't really tell how old he was--she'd never met a giant talking mouse before--but she was sure he wasn't all that old. There was something in his eyes, though, something ancient and wise about them. Of course, they didn't seem all that noble when they were narrowed and cutting gin her direction.

"I'm only going to ask you this one time, friend. I don't have any reason not to trust you, so please don't give me one. What do you know about Organization XIII?"

Kione looked into the narrowed eyes, and paled. "I don't know anything about them, I swear. This guy just showed up behind me--just like you," she said nodding her head in the direction he'd come from for emphasis. "He talked, well he didn't really talk me out of jumping. He scared the hell outta me and I almost fell. Then he asked me to come with him, and I didn't really know what to this. But he said he'd come for me soon. But, I don't know how soon is soon. I mean, there've been two of you in one day! This is ridiculous! All I wanted to do was die!" Everything came out in a rush. Kione wasn't even sure she took a breath in her whole speech. "Heh, sorry. That was a bit much wasn't it? It's just that I haven't--I haven't had company, in a long, long time."

The mouse took another long moment to look her in the eyes, then he seemed to decide something. He laughed then, and it was the weirdest thing she'd ever heard. Annoying, and yet oddly comforting. "I'm Mickey," he said extending one white, four-fingered gloved hand.

"Kione," she said, awkwardly taking his had with her own.

"Well, Kione, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, I'm sure," Kione smiled then, for the first time in what seemed like forever.

"If you don't mind me saying so, you have a beautiful smile--"

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" A voice proclaimed, cutting him off.

Kione whirled around, jumping off of the ledge. "You!" she shouted.

The man smirked, and leaned against the wall nonchalantly. "No, I'm new. The name's Axel," the man reached for his hood. He removed it slowly, like he was trying to be dramatic. A long (for lack of a better word) mane of hair was revealed, shocking red, with hint of orange and black. Kione was reminded of fire. But it was his eyes that caught her eyes, the green that was so much like her own. It was creepy if it was anything. "Got it memorized?"

"Nnnkay?" Kione shook her head. She looked over her shoulder, "Do you know him, Mickey? Mickey?" But he was gone. Kione stood there, dumbly looking at the spot he'd been.

Axel too, seemed to be at a loss. But only for a second, the confused look was fleeting, only a flicker really. Kione would have to have been watching his face the entire time to even see it. To the casual observer he wasn't fazed by the mouse's disappearance. "Where'd he get off to? Oh, no matter the King doesn't care for Nobodies like us."

"Like us?"

Axel smiled grandly and extended his arms, "Yes, Kione, like us. We're a dying breed, you and I. Our kind tried organizing, but that didn't work. They didn't play by the rules," his voice got darker, angrier as he continued. "They took something from me. Something very dear."

During his whole speech Kione was slowly backing up until she was at the edge. Earlier the drop had seemed welcoming, but now nothing could be more terrifying. "What'd they take?" she asked, fearing the answer.

"My friend," he snarled. "Now, I'm not asking you to join any organization. I'm telling you not to. They've taken something from me, now I'll just have to return the favor." He took a step forward.

_Jump_, came Mickey's voice from nowhere.

"WHAT!" Kione shouted. She felt like she was being torn apart. Organazation XIII? Axel? KING?

"Huh?" Axel said, pausing.

_Trust me_,the reassuring voice said, and, God help her, she trusted him.

Kione turned around and took a step onto the ledge, then another. She stood and looked down, into the darkness.

"Wait," Axel's voice called, "can't we talk about this?"

"No," Kione called, raising her hand from her side. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the picture in her pocket. MY FAMILY, the caption read. It was funny, she recognized her hand writing, but not any of the people. "I've already made up my mind."

She closed her eyes, hugged the photo to her chest and jumped. All she knew was darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

Nobody Knows

It was dark. Why was it always dark? Kione realized she'd woken up with her eyes close, which was not an uncommon thing for her. _Stupid_, she thought. Slowly, she opened her eyes, she wasn't surprised to find that it was actually dark. Kione sat up, she discovered she was laying on a cot, covered with some kind of woolen blanket. Her jacket (for all that she could see) was folded neatly at the foot of the cot.

She shivered. _Damn it's cold._ She pulled the blanket around her shoulders and busied herself trying to find her lighter. _Where am I? What the hell happened?_ Wherever she was she could see a little thanks to the light around the edges of the door. Kione celebrated a brief moment of victory upon finding her lighter in her jacket pocket. She flicked it once, twice…bingo. The tiny flame illuminated what appeared to be a storage room. There were crates of various sized lined up all around the room, but they all bore the same seal. There were other obits of interest in the room; jars, pots, small boxes, and a few chests. The room itself wasn't all that big, the cot took up all but a foot of the far wall. Kione felt stiff, and cramped, but most of all she felt confused.

Suddenly there came the sound of footsteps from outside, and whistling. It was an up beat tune, Kione couldn't imagine a villain whistling something so jolly. But nonetheless she hide behind one of the larger crates and flicked her lighter off so that the room was once more in darkness.

The door opened with an audible 'swoosh', and a small figure was silhouetted in the light. Kione recognized him immediately.

"Mickey," she called thankfully, coming out of hiding, "for a second I thought I was in trouble."

The mouse chuckled and flicked on the lights. Kione saw that he had a tray with a bowl of steaming soup, bread, and a glass of some kind of juice. Her stomach rumbled at the sight, and he laughed again.

"Looks like I came just in time, huh?" He settled the tray on the cot and sat down beside her. "I'm afraid I'm not much of a cook."

Kione took the tray with a laugh, "I've been living in an abandoned clock tower above a train station for the last few years, I'm not picky."

The soup turned out to be vegetable. Mickey was right, his cooking skills left much to be desired--but Kione didn't notice. The soup was hot., fresh and delicious (to her at least). While Kione ate Mickey started at the floor, there seemed to be something on his mind, but she didn't notice. She tore into the bread, which was still warm from the oven.

"Really, I can't thank you enough, Mickey," Kione began, but he raised a gloved hand and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, that's what the good guys do."

Kione set the now empty tray on a crate next to the cot, she leaned back against the cool metal wall and sighed. "So this is all real?"

"Yep," he said almost sadly.

"You're from this _Kingdom _I've heard about?"

"Uh-huh, well…herm…actually," he looked around as though expecting someone to jump out at him. Then he said in a whisper, "I'm the king."

Kione smiled, "Figures."

Mickey, or rather King Mickey took on a serious look, "Do you have any idea why the Organization wants you?"

Kione shook her head, "I don't have the slightest clue. After my," she stopped and though better of it. "After my life took an _unexpected turn_ a few years ago, I haven't had much human contact. I hardly ever go into the town, except for food and a few other things. I've never heard of this 'Organization' or the 'Kingdom' or this fellow 'Axel' before today. Or was it yesterday?"

The King took this into consideration , and sat quietly thinking for a moment. "You wouldn't have heard of any of these things. But the worlds have been connected again."

"Worlds?" Kione asked.

The King launched into a quick explanation about the worlds, and the many reasons why they weren't supposed to be connected--yet they were. Kione sat in wrapped attention, listening to him explain the inner working of the worlds.

"Wait, so let me get this straight," Kione said after he was finished. "The forces of darkness are trying to destroy the _worlds_?"

"Yep."

"And this isn't the first time this has happened?"

"No, it's been happening over the course of a few years. We thought we'd put a stop to it a year ago. But now a new threat has come up."

"We?"

The King sighed and launched into another explanation about the forces of light. Or more specifically Sora, Riku, Kari, Donald, and Goofy. He ran down the list of their various feats of heroism. He was practically sweating pride, Kione couldn't help but smile while he talked. The King's voice was commanded her utmost attention, she was lost in the story. She'd never dreamed that something like his tale could be real. Then to her horror she realized it was all real. A mere boy had been fighting the forces of darkness almost single handedly. Sweet heaven, her life…no everyone's life now rested on the small shoulders of a fifteen year-old boy and his friends. There was no way. _NO WAY_!

"Wait, wait, wait. So a three kids, a duck, a dog, a mouse (no offense), and a few rag-tag rebels are all that stand between us and certain oblivion?"

"That's the long short of it."

"There's no way," she breathed, mostly to herself.

The King heard her, "As much as I wish it were different…but it just isn't."

He looked into his palms as though the answer would be there, and to Kione's surprise something appeared. It was a giant key, but it looked like a sword.

"This is the Keyblade," he began, holding it up. "I have one, and so does Sora. When the time is right Kari will be given one."

"But they're just kids!"

Mickey once more looked to his palms, the Keyblade vanished. "I know."

Kione saw the sadness in his eyes, his voice, his very form. _What a heavy burden for anyone to bare_, she realized.

"I can't imagine having to worry about them," she said. Kione reached out and tentatively put a hand on his back. "I'm so sorry."

He looked at her and gave a sad chuckle, "Heh he, it's my job."

Kione actually smiled, she'd been doing that a lot lately. "So," she said braking the silence, "where are we going?"

"Well, Riku and I were gonna go and try to gather more information about the Organization. Now that Sora is awake and back to fighting the heartless and the nobodies--"

"Nobodies?" she asked sharply. Nobodies were the enemies here too?

"Yea, they're the other half of a person. When a heart is stolen the being is broken up into two parts: heartless and a nobody."

"Are nobodies monsters too?" Kione feared the answer.

"Essentially," he mulled over how to explain it for a second. "Most nobodies take on the form of monsters, but a few people with especially strong hearts retain the human form."

"Strong where others were weak," Kione murmured, thinking about what the first cloaked man had said to her. "I'm afraid I can't come with you."

"Well why not?" he looked surprised.

"Because she's a nobody, Mick," came a surprisingly deep voice from the opened doorway. "Look she's even got the mark--under her left eye no less."

Kione turned to see one of the biggest men she'd ever seen. He was tall, broad shouldered and thickly muscled. He was also very tan, just as she was. His eyes were sharp and accusatory--and unfortunately narrowed directly at her.

Kione had never felt more out of place, she nervously scratched the mark. "Yeah, I had realized that, thanks."

Mickey got up, "That's something I'd realized too, Riku."

"Riku?" Kione asked. "I though you said he was sixteen?"

He sneered, "What can I say? I had a growth spurt."

Mickey held up his hand to silence them, "Like I was saying. I know she's a Nobody, Ricku. But she not one of _them_."

"Oh come on, the Organization wants her. How much more will it take? Here," he pulled a photo out of his pocket, walked over and gave it to her. "Who are these people?"

Kione looked at the picture. _MY FAMILY_. Kione searched the faces, but couldn't come up with and answer. "I--I don't…"

"See? She doesn't remember her own family. She's not a real person. She's just pretending to feel."

"Riku," the King said once in warning.

They began to discuss her fate aoungst themselves. Normally Kione would've gotten mad that they were talking about her as though she wasn't there, but she was in her own world. It was just her and the photo, there might as well have not been anyone in the room. She was absorbed in it, in the faces. She looked at the elder man, the elder woman. The younger man and woman. At last she looked at the baby.

A drop of water fell on the photo.

_Drip._

_Drip._

Riku stopped arguing and looked at her.

"Kione?" The King asked, his voice full of concern.

She looked up. For a moment she thought the roof must be leaking, but then she realized that she…was crying.

"I'd forgotten," she said so softly that she was sure the only person who heard was herself and the King.

"Forgotten what, Kione?" the King said placing one had atop hers.

"Forgotten everything, but I remembered it yesterday," she hiccupped pathetically. "I wrote a letter about forgetting yesterday. Mickey, it's so scarey. I forget a little more everyday. I forget who I am. I forget my family--my daughter. She'll be three now."

Riku couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"I haven't cried since it happened," she continued. She wanted to wipe the tears away, but she relished the way they felt. "I thought I couldn't anymore. I didn't even cry when my parents didn't recognize me, and my child cried at the sight of me."

Mickey didn't say anything, he just let her talk. Maybe he didn't know what to say, or maybe he knew it was better to leave the moment as it was.

"I'm sorry," came Riku's voice unexpectedly. "Sorry about what I said before."

Kione looked up at him and for the first time looked him in the eyes. "Don't be, you're right. I'm not a real person, not anymore. That's what's so terrifying."


End file.
